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More On Joint-Friendly Exercises

I’m beat! Previously, I wrote that I’m trying to get back into an indoor exercise routine. My daughter and I are figuring out what will work for both of us. We quickly discovered that the order in which she does the exercises makes a huge difference for her. The wrong sequence of machines means she’s too tired and has to quit.

First, we begin by stretching. In addition to the typical “stretch so you don’t pull a muscle” things, we’re doing the PT stretches and exercises that I learned for my hips and rotator cuffs. Then we rotate through the four machines I have – five minutes per machine, with a water break between each. It’s nice to alternate the easy and hard exercises.

I start by spending five minutes on the gazelle. This is so incredibly easy that I must be doing something wrong. I could probably spend a whole hour gliding my legs back and forth on this thing. It’s a good warm up. (if you do an internet search for images of gazelle exercise equipment, the second photo is the Six Until Me logo, which was simultaneously a bit odd and sorta cool)

Next I switch with my daughter and she gets a nice break gliding while I tighten down the tension on the exercise bike. It generally feels like I’m riding straight up the side of a mountain. No conversation takes place. That would be impossible, but having someone there with me (plus the knowledge that it’s only for five minutes) keeps me going.

After a short break and a quick drink, I run five minutes on the elipitcal. This machine, too, has a tension dial. Maybe someday I’ll use it! For now, I keep a comfortable pace at 3.2 mph, which is a very easy jog and would equate to 1.5 miles during a half-hour television show should I ever choose to resume that practice. Somewhere I read that at least 3.5 mph is best. Baby steps.

To finish our rotation through the exercise equipment I take five minutes on a horrid contraption called Cardio Glide. This thing is brutal! It takes even harder work than the climbing-the-side-of-a-mountain exercise bike. It’s low-impact, and can actually be as easy or hard as you want, so I do it.

Next week we’re hoping to add in some exercises for the stomach. I’ve used this in the past with pretty good results:

I know I’ll have to modify a few things. For example, there’s no way I’ll be able to rest on my elbows in level 2, but I’m confident that we’ll both be able to add this to our routine.

Eventually I hope to increase our time on the different machines. For now, five minutes on every machine adds up to the recommended minimum of twenty minutes per day. It will only take a couple more minutes to increase that to half an hour total.

And it’s fun to spend time together, even if we’re both too winded to do any talking!